What did the yakima Indians tribe do in the past?

Answer 1

The Yakima are a Columbia River tribe speaking a Sahaptin language related to Nez Perce. They waged almost constant warfare against the Shoshone and Blackfoot tribes.

The Yakimas were expert horsemen, skilled with the bow and arrow and later with the gun. In Yakima, a bow is twinpaash and arrow is kayáasy; the word for gun is also twinpaash.

They had close connections with the coastal tribes such as the Salish, with whom they traded abalone and dentalium shells, beads, fish and whale products in exchange for furs and clothing.

The Yakimas were forced into war against white Americans when in 1855 Governor Isaac Stevens declared their homelands available to white settlers. Chief Kamiakin emerged as the main Yakima war leader; a force of 500 US troops sent from Fort Dalles were met by a combined force of Yakimas, Umatillas, Walla Walla, Cayuse and Palouse warriors. The soldiers withdrew in some haste and both sides took to skirmishing.

The government was unable to control many of the volunteer militias who took part and who committed brutal acts of barbarity against the native Americans; the Yakimas fled to the east and things quieted down for the time being in 1856.